WTA Birmingham Final Prediction

Barbora Krejcikova vs Jelena Ostapenko

Head-to-head: Ostapenko 4-2 Krejcikova

Krejcikova had only played 13 grass-court singles matches in her career before this week, but it looks like the Czech’s records are about to improve greatly. She has been pretty astonishing in the four times we’ve seen her on the court so far with no one coming even close to putting her in a dangerous situation. Only Tereza Martincova has managed to take four games in a set against Krejcikova in Birmingham so far.

Meanwhile, Ostapenko has been as up and down as she tends to be and keeps prevailing in three-set battles. The Latvian pulled off an incredible comeback from 4-6 0-4 down against Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals, finally finding her groove and dominating her opponent in the deciding set. As usual, her matches have mostly depended on the quality of her execution and whether she was able to make enough winners and forcing shots to cover for the unforced errors.

Will Krejcikova allow Ostapenko a sloppy set like the Latvian has had in every match so far? Probably not. The top seed has a great first serve, which she will be using to her advantage here, and a good set of tools to help her disrupt Ostapenko’s rhythm. Their head-to-head over the years has ranged from beatdowns for either player to a fantastic battle at the Australian Open in 2022. With how Krejcikova has been playing so far, it feels like the second seed will just need to be cleaner than in her previous matches to prevail here. She might step up, but we know the Czech will do anything in her power to try to stop her.

Prediction: Krejcikova in 3

Main photo credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports